Its a rare occurrence when the world of freeskiing makes a strong presence in the Northwest, but thanks to the work of many local ski shops, sponsors and friends, the Poorboyz tour of Ski Porn was a big hit throughout Oregon and Washington. Between the four different tour stops, there was a rail jam, a bowling tournament, and some of the biggest names in the industry. CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY...
Attention Maggots: my Name is Tom Tomkinson, I've skied Squaw Valley all my life and, against the better judgement of many (and the delight of a few), have decided to devote my life to photographing the things that have come to mean something to me throughout my 25 years here. I've been photographing skiing for roughly 3 of those years, however this season will be my first serious endeavour, based in the holiest of holy's, Squaw. Thanks always to Powder Magazine for this and many other unspoken opportunities. Please visit my interwebsite at given2fly.net - Tom
After last Saturday's tour at Hatcher Pass, I couldn't wait to get more... with blue skies and an additional 6-8" in the last week, Josh Hegna and I headed north. We arrived at the pass at 11:00am to find prime conditions--fresh pow, no wind and not a cloud.
As the sun came around and shined on my line, I rolled in off the summit with confidence and dropped into light, blower pow turns. After my top line, I skied out to the flats with the feeling of pure satisfaction- gave a couple stoked hoots, which sounds cheezy typing it, but for some reason can't help it after skiing that kind of snow. I quickly grabbed my radio and told Josh it was filled in and blower, and to go just skier's left of my tracks. Watching him ski an effortless, fun line also gave me that satisfied feeling. We traversed back to ridge and skied the lower slope back to the pass. The only rock I hit was my last turn, I couldn't complain- what a day! -Jason Scheben
It’s not exactly a new idea on Richmond Ridge, the long spine stretching back from Aspen Mountain with dozens of picture-perfect slopes fanning down on either side. Since the 1960s, experienced skiers have logged laps on the "backside," using a trio of snow roads shaped over time by public use. CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY...
Las Lenas was the last stop in our month-long road trip adventure where we skied five resorts in Chile and Argentina traveling via our rental Kia "Mystery Bus".
If Valle Nevado was groomer paradise, then Las Lenas was a paradise of couloirs. And the secret is out. It's why Americans fly down to this resort in the Andes. And it's why there's a run named "Los Gringos."
The Santa Rosa storm never hit the Andes this September, but spending a week in Argentina skiing pockets of powder left from the last storm wasn't too tough. We skied the major backcountry peaks like Ponce, Rios, Torrecillas and Martin. On those days we had to flash our green wristbands to ski patrol, which signified that we understood that a rescue would cost U.S. $1,000. Some days we hiked for four hours trying to find the powder, other times, as Jes McMillan called it, we "be-bopped" around the inbounds, bumping it up on the moguls or doing laps on Marte. As the week wore on, warm conditions caused the snow to deteriorate quickly and Lenas became much ado about the apres-ski and Lynsey Dyer's Betty Crocker conconctions.
Lenas has closed for the winter, but luckily we have the Tetons. Until next summer in South America, the Jackson crew is signing out… -Vanessa Pierce
All photos by Gary Winberg
How do you thank a band for rocking the house all night? Why you sneak back into their dressing room and drink their contract rider, of course.
Ok, maybe not. But with the night not nearly over, I realized this is exactly what we had done. Vancouver hip-hop band Sweatshop Union was still jammin’ on the balcony of Seattle’s Evo ski shop, I ducked back stage (which does day-time duty as my friends Ian and Ryan’s office) to find gin gone, the tonic waning, and the multiple cases of green bottled beer requested by the band empty. Good time to duck back into the party.
This was Friday night, and the occasion was the showing of MSP’s Push in possibly the most ski-centric metropolis in the U.S. About 1,000 people assembled in front of the Freemont Studios massive HD screen. (CLICK HERE FOR A REVIEW OF PUSH ) After the show, the over-21 crowd made the short stumble back to the Evo headquarters (evogear.com), where the merchandise had been stowed in a container parked out back, and Sweatshop Union had set up shot on the upper balcony.
Few cities get stoked for the ski season like Seattle. The show was packed with all kinds—from local college kids to film stars (such as Seattle-bred Ingrid Backstrom) to heavy hitters from Washington-based companies such as K2, Helly Hansen and POW gloves. But while this was the highlight of the week for the ski crowd, for the folks at Evo, it was just another night in the retail/party business. The shop hosted a wakeboard premiere on Thursday and a showing of the snowboard flick on Saturday. -Derek Taylor
All photos by Gabe Rogel.
This region is explosively entertaining. In one day at Termas de Chillan, Lynsey Dyer and Jess McMillan launched front flips off a cornice, photographer Gabe Rogel shot the best backcountry skiing of his life and we almost blew up our rental house...CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY.
"Another day, another shuttle and another Delta lady. Bye Re! New plane, new bags. :You guys like the Braves? Hotlanta here I come!" Plane change again. Where to now? "Hola! Hablas ingles? Anyone?" Awesome, another ski bag. "Sup bro, you’ve seen better days. Why all the gray bandanges?"Oh, you’re Suzanne’s bag! What? We’re going to Santiago!
"Touch down. Conveyer belt. Quit pulling on me Mister. Why’s the Misses in such a rush! I’m Re’s. Why you taking me through customs. Please, someone, help!” What’s that sign say? "Las Condes, Chile" Wait this can’t be right. Re and I were heading to Las Leñas, Argentina.
Curva 1…Curva 12…Curva 20. I’m going to puke. Check-in Hotel Valle Nevado. Nice ski runs. Up to the room. Ziiiiiip. Why are these people YELLING! I’m the hostage!! Quit pulling on my green tag, hey that’s my tag, where you going with that! Back in the shuttle van. Curva 20….Curva 12….Curva 1. Airport, another airport! Why am I at the airport? I thought I was going skiing. Take off, touch down. Mendoza? Where am I? Where’s Re? She’s never left me for 2 days straight before. Another dark room. Whose this guy? Van says "Talavera." More corners, we must be headed to the mountains. Air’s getting thin, I can’t breathe. Wow, those mountains are big! Las Leñas, the sign says Las Leñas! Re, Re! Where are you? We’re passing the hotels and into the ghetto. I see Re! She’s paying the Talavera guy. That’s a lot of cash Re! Why you staying in the gringo ghetto?
Ziiiiip. Socks, jacket, pants, fleece, long johns, Pieps, shovel, probe, poles, skis. Where you going Re? Skiing without me! I just got here. I feel so empty…"-Holly Walker
When I picked up POWDER’S Porter Fox and Dave Reddick, 4FRNT founder Matt Sterbenz and Tahoe ripper Jeff McKitterick from the airport last week, my first thought was how the hell we were gong to fit all their gear in my miniature kiwi wagon. Somehow we all crammed in and immediately headed to Temple Basin Club Field, stopping halfway to meet recently crowned NZ Freeski Open Big Mountain champ and Kiwi native Hamish Aclund and enjoy a round of New Zealand’s legendary meat pies.
After Lucy and the crew chugged up to the parking lot, we loaded the gear onto the Goods lift while Porter freakishly became obsessed with New Zealand’s alpine parrot known as a Kea. Once the gear was sent off on the dodgy lift, we tramped up a mountainside for over an hour to Temple’s lodge. At one point, my sorry ass had to grab onto Hamish’s backpack strap to maintain balance as I constantly slipped on my Wallaby boots resembling a first-time figure skater. Eventually we all made it intact, including our gear, and stared up at the towering moonlit peaks that we would call home for the next week. High-fives were thrown as the AK-style lines streaming down Temple’s surrounding white faces induced feelings of pure joy.
The boys hiked and shredded hard all week with Reddick capturing both the awesome display of skill from Sterbenz, McKitterick, and Hamish and sheer beauty that is New Zealand. Without giving too much of the upcoming magazine story away, the week was a big hit, despite Porter’s loss to McKitterick in a grueling, deuce-filled championship match of ping-pong. -John Stifter
Today’s Slopestyle event for the 2006 NZ Freeski Open was one of the most groundbreaking in recent memory. Sixteen year-old kiwi native Jossi Wells threw a switch 630 onto a gap to down box on the last feature of the super-rad slopestyle course. CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY...
